


The Mother Confessor Sleeps

by fortunata13



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/F, Feelings, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-23
Updated: 2012-02-23
Packaged: 2017-10-31 15:18:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/345603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunata13/pseuds/fortunata13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the latter part of season 2, the Mother Confessor falls prey to a curse that leaves her in a deep slumber. Yes, Sleeping Beauty with a Midlands twist. This is a bit of a departure from my usual writting...Hopefully, it's a good read.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mother Confessor Sleeps

 

If only one thing had been different, a minute detail, just one seemingly insignificant decision could have kept it from happening. Now it is too late. The Mother Confessor lies in the Seeker’s arms perfectly still, tears streaming down his face. He tried for two full candlemarks to rouse her from sleep but it was to no avail. All he can do now is wait for the others to return, hoping against hope that the Wizard’s magic will bring Kahlan back.  
  
It’s the Mord’Sith who, with the Wizard walking beside her, notices from some distance that something isn’t quite right. The way Richard’s body is positioned perhaps, or maybe it’s that strange churning in her stomach that tells her something is wrong. In less than a breath she is running full speed toward them until finally dropping to her knees at Kahlan’s side.

“Richard, what happened?” she asks, unable to conceal the panic in her voice. “Tell me what happened!” she demands, becoming increasingly agitated.

“I don’t know. I was only gone for a moment. I don’t know.” Richard is doing his best to regain his composure, to think clearly long enough to do something but it’s impossible. Not with Kahlan lying perfectly still like that, completely lifeless.

“You left her alone?” Cara asks roughly, jumping to her feet. She knows Richard would give his life for the Mother Confessor, but right now, at this moment, she’s not thinking, she’s too overcome with emotion. She wants someone to blame. She needs someone to blame.

It is only the Wizard’s arrival, and the promise it brings, that defuses the situation. Echoing the Mord’Sith’s question, he too looks to the Seeker for answers. “It was an elderly woman,” Richard explains, “she was attacked by bandits who took her purse. I wanted to help,” he said, “I just wanted to help, Zedd.” Richard left the Mother Confessor with the woman in an effort to retrieve her coins. It was upon his return that he found Kahlan lying on the ground motionless.

The Wizard, kneeling beside her, waves his hands over her form and utters some unintelligible words. He then looks up at the Seeker and says, “She’s sleeping.” While the word is innocuous enough, the look on his face causes tremendous distress to both the Seeker and the Mord’Sith.

“Speak, Wizard, what’s wrong?” The Mord’Sith huffs impatiently, looking as if she’s tempted to strike him.

“It’s a magical sleep brought on by some sort of curse,” he explains in a somber tone. “The only way to wake her is to break the curse. That was no ordinary woman, my boy,” he says, turning to face the Seeker, “that was a powerful witch.”

“But you can break the curse,” the Seeker says expectantly.

“A curse is like a lock than can only be turned by the right key. We don’t have the key.” The Wizard collapses onto a log with his face in his hands, “It could take months, maybe even years to break this type of curse.”

“When one does not have the key, one breaks down the door, Wizard. Can’t you use that powerful magic you’re constantly boasting about?” The Mord’Sith spits out angrily. The Wizard has no reply.

After weeks of trying in vain to break the curse by brute force, it is finally decided that the quest must go on. The Mother Confessor will be transported to Aydindril via covered wagon, where the Mord’Sith will remain by her side. In her current state, Kahlan is completely helpless and, having been repeatedly ordered by her Lord to protect Kahlan at all cost, there is no one whom Richard trusts more to keep her well than the Mord’Sith, Cara Mason.

Upon arriving they are met with resistance from the acting Mother Confessor, Dennee Amnell, who due to her personal history with Cara Mason, refuses to let her set foot in the palace, let alone remain there indefinitely. It is only after endless pleas by the Seeker of Truth that she finally relents. “Cara will die before she’d let anyone harm Kahlan,” he’d said to her countless times. “There is no one other than Cara who Kahlan would trust to care for her under these circumstances,” he’d insisted. “Please, Dennee, I’m asking you to trust me, please,” he’d begged. The Mord’Sith never argued on her own behalf, she simply stood in silence at her Lord’s side.

With the promise that one wrong move will cost the Mord’Sith her life, the arrangements are made for her to take up residence in the Mother Confessor’s personal chambers. It soon becomes clear to everyone that she has no intention of leaving Kahlan’s side or of allowing anyone else to care for her. Day after day she sits at Kahlan’s bedside.

It is only a matter of weeks before she thwarts an ill-planned attempt on Kahlan’s life. She single handedly disposes of five would be assassins before a single member of the Home Guard has drawn a weapon. Dennee Amnell rushes in, daggers in hand, only to find the Mord’Sith, blood trickling down her forehead, calmly seated at the Mother Confessor’s side with five bodies sprawled on the floor. Dennee acknowledges the Mord’Sith with a slight nod as she turns to leave.

“You can wake up now, Mother Confessor, you are already the most beautiful woman in the world. No amount of beauty sleep will add to it.” Those are the types of things she whispers to Kahlan when she thinks no one is listening.  Sometimes she bargains with the Mother Confessor. “If you wake up today, I will personally escort you to visit those annoying blue bugs you love so much. I give you my word.” On some occasions she pleads with her. “Kahlan please, just try to open your eyes. Please. I just want to see your eyes.” Dennee can hear her from the antechamber sometimes but she never mentions it.

“It’s all right if you decide to sleep forever, Kahlan. I will be here to take care of you.” she says, as she brushes the Mother Confessor’s hair, just as she does every morning. She also massages her arms and legs, flexing them to keep them strong. Although she rarely says a word to them, the members of the staff have grown fond of the leather-clad woman whose sole purpose is to care for their beloved queen. They’ve started to take notice of her food preferences –– which she’s never articulated –– and make it a point to cook those meals more often.

While the world outside the walls that surround her goes on, the Mord’Sith takes little notice. Months later, when the Seeker arrives in Aydindril a hero after finding the Stone of Tears, Cara greets him with a pat on the back as he gazes with tear-filled eyes at the Mother Confessor. He tries to suggest that perhaps it’s time for her to return to D’Hara with him, but she cuts him off before he can finish. She will not leave the Mother Confessor’s side until the woman herself orders her to do so, she informs him. Richard gives her a warm embrace before leaving for D’Hara the next morning.

It is two months later that the Wizard of the First Order arrives at the Confessor’s Palace with the long-awaited news that he has managed to find the witch who cast the malevolent spell and, by magical means, got her to reveal how the spell can be broken. “Kahlan confessed her only son some time ago. Hers was an act of vengeance,” the Wizard explained.

Scribbled on a piece of parchment were the following words:

By the light of the thirteenth moon, that is in some lands called blue,  
with a gentle kiss on the lips from the one who loves her above all else,  
the Mother Confessor’s eyes will surely open. Were the wrong lips to touch her own,  
just as surely she will die.

“The full moon is less than a fortnight away, Dennee. I’ll send word to Richard that he is to come to Aydindril immediately,” the Wizard said, as he and Dennee looked into the Mother Confessor’s bedroom, where she lay perfectly still just as she had for months, the Mord’Sith by her side.

“Richard,” Dennee said, almost as if it were a question she was too afraid to ask. Still standing by the Mother Confessor’s door, she watches intently as the Mord’Sith caresses Kahlan’s hand with her thumb before sliding it under the covers to keep her warm. Then she notices how carefully she cups the base of Kahlan’s skull to adjust her pillow, and makes certain to brush away any stray locks of hair from her face. And she listens, she listens to the Mord’Sith whisper words of comfort and encouragement, make promises, and with her next breath, plead with her to awaken.

More importantly, as she closes the door to give the two women privacy, she listens to her own heart. “Don’t call for Richard, Zedd,” she says under her breath.

“Dennee, Kahlan will die without a kiss from him,” he replies in complete disbelief.

“No, Zedd, she won’t. Your currency is magic, mine is love. As much as I wish it weren’t so, I know exactly who it is that loves my sister above all else.”

Zedd stands before her with a quizzical look on his face, trying to make sense of it all, and then it hits him. “You can’t mean ––” he trails off before continuing. “My grandson is the only one.” He’s angry now, hurt even. The Seeker and the Mother Confessor are destined for each other. He will not accept that it could be any other way.

“I’m sorry Zedd, I will not allow my sister to die for the sake of your pride. You know I am right and, if he were here, Richard, the Seeker of Truth, would see it as clearly as I do.” She squeezes his shoulder affectionately but does not relent.

On the night of the thirteenth moon, the blue moon as some call it, Dennee Amnell enters the Mother Confessor’s chamber and, resting a hand on her shoulder, hands the Mord’Sith the parchment. Without any trace of a doubt Cara Mason nods and watches as Dennee leaves the room. Taking in the deepest of breaths and glancing up to the heavens for a moment, she places the most gentle of kisses on the Mother Confessor’s lips.

It is the sound of Kahlan’s laughter reverberating through the room shortly after that confirms to Dennee that her heart had been right.

With Dennee’s blessing, and the Seeker and the Wizard by her side, Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor of the Midlands, took the Mord’Sith, Cara Mason, as her mate the following spring. All of the Midlands rejoiced at having their beloved Queen back and, equally so, at her choice of a mate.

Years later and for no particular reason, Dennee asked her sister what exactly caused her hearty laugh on the day her Mord’Sith kissed her. “Why, Cara, of course. Upon opening my eyes, Cara promptly rolled hers and informed me that if I so badly wanted a kiss from her, all I would have had to do was ask.”

Fin  



End file.
